By Godfred A. Polkuu
Duusi (U/E), July 20, GNA – The Women and Children Wellness Empowerment (WCWE), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in the Upper East Region, has offered skills training to women at Duusi in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region.
The women were trained on how to prepare liquid soap, ‘Sobolo’, a locally prepared drink made from hibiscus flowers, and proper preparation of local green leafy vegetable soup known as ‘Bitɔ’ without compromising the nutrients.
The training programme was supported by the Anini Project, an NGO.
Mr Mark Anthony Azongo, the Founder and Executive Director of the NGO, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview during the training sessions that the NGO operated under five main thematic areas.
“We have the Community Health Outreach project, the Feeding and Rehabilitation project, Women Empowerment and Skills Development, the Sick and Needy Child, Water and Sanitation projects,” he said.
Mr Azongo said the training was under the Women Empowerment and Skills Development project, which involved soap making, weaving and dress making.
He said the WCWE paid critical attention to women and children, especially in rural communities, and noted that the essence of the training was to empower the women with skills to start their own small-scale businesses.
He said as part of the project, the beneficiary women were thought how not to over cook their fresh local leafy vegetable soup, known as ‘Bitɔ’ without losing the essential nutrients needed to nourish their children.
“The focus is for them to look within our own local foods. If they are thought how to properly prepare the local foods, without killing the essential nutrients due to overcooking, they would eat healthy foods, and their children will be healthy devoid of anaemia,” he said.
Mr Azongo, an award-winning Paediatric Nurse Specialist, noted that health facilities during the raining season recorded high cases of anaemia in children, especially from the rural communities within the Region and emphasized the need for children to feed well to improve their haemoglobin levels.
He acknowledged that even though women in the rural communities knew how to prepare their own ‘Bitɔ’ soup, some of them overcooked the vegetables and in the process, lost the nutrients.
“The soup may taste good after cooking, but the essential nutrients may be lost due to overcooking.”
On preparation of the liquid soap, he said the materials used, had no bleaching agent and would be good for domestic and other purposes.
Mr Azongo hinted that management of the WCWE intended to undertake free medical screening and blood donation exercises under its Community Health Outreach project in the Region and beyond to stock various blood banks in public health facilities, as contribution to the Ghana Health Service’s quest to attain Universal Health Coverage.
He expressed gratitude to Ms Sofia Gonzalez Mesias, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Anini Project and her team for the continuous support, and appealed to other organizations to support the WCWE to reach out to the less privileged, especially in the rural communities across northern Ghana.
The CEO of the Anini Project on her part, urged the community members not to keep the knowledge and skills after the training, but make good use of it to earn incomes to support the upkeep of their families, and train their children in school.
Madam Veronica Asampana, one of the beneficiaries of the training, commended managements of the two NGOs for the initiative to support them with the training and how to properly prepare their own local soup to achieve the desired results.
GNA